One of the things that’s put a lot of people off making the switch to mirrorless is a lack of lenses. The lack of lenses isn’t much of a surprise. How can new system like Sony’s E Mount or Micro Four Thirds really compete with the decades old Nikon and Canon systems where every lens has been made and revised half a dozen times or more?

That’ll change a little for Sony users with Sigma’s new E Mount lenses, but there are other options. Lens mounts are available for both Sony and Micro Four Thirds systems that allow you to utilise Nikon and Canon lenses on those systems. In this video, Chris Niccolls from The Camera Store TV walks us through the range and capabilities of current adapters in 2018.

We all assume that a mirrorless or DSLR camera is going to pulverise an iPhone concerning image quality, but, there are degrees of pulverisation. Questions my dear reader come into play, like…

Are we talking about shooting in good light or poor light? Are we comparing a fixed focal length lens to the equivalent on the iPhone X? How big are we going to print? ……and so on. It’s not a straightforward comparison to make.

Panasonic has officially launched LUMIX GX9, a new mirrorless micro four-thirds camera. It packs a lot of great features in a compact body and as Panasonic itself writes, it’s aimed at “amateur photographers wanting a professional experience.”

It features a 20.3 MP sensor, shoots 4K video at 30fps, and allows you to save video frames as 4K photos. Many of the features are aimed at capturing the perfect shot, so it seems that this camera would be ideal for street photographers.

The selfie-centric Olympus Pen E-PL9 has been announced. This entry-level Micro Four Thirds camera from Olympus has seen a couple of nice new updates over the previous generation Pen E-PL8. For a start, there’s 4K UHD video, as well as 120fps slow motion at 720p (a first for the Pen line of cameras). It has a redesigned grip to help get a more confident hold on the camera, especially when shooting selfies, with a new internal popup flash.

Not too long ago, switching brands seemed a silly expense. Bouncing back and forth between Nikon and Canon was just far more cost and hassle than it was worth. Some photographers simply bought into both brands (it worked out cheaper than swapping every couple of years). Others stuck with their brand through thick and thin.

Joe Edelman is one such photographer and stuck with Nikon for 42 years. But as technology developed and more manufacturers came back into the fray, Joe’s needs changed. So, he started playing the field to see what the others had to offer. Now, he’s finally made the switch to Olympus, and in this video, he explains why.

Panasonic, today, are also announcing a new Leica 200mm f/2.8 lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras. Panasonic say it offers the “sharpest-ever corner to corner image quality in Lumix history”. They also say that it’s designed with high speed and low weight in mind for handheld shooting.

With the launch of a new superfast 60fps camera, a new lens obviously aimed squarely at sports and wildlife shooters shouldn’t be much of a surprise. It has the equivalent field of view to a 400mm lens on a full frame sensor, with a fast aperture, fast autofocus, image stabilisation and it even comes supplied with a 1.4x teleconverter.

The Panasonic Lumix G9 is now official, and it’s a little beast. While Panasonic have become a favourite for video shooters, stills photographers tend to favour Olympus when it comes to Micro Four Thirds. It’s clear, though, that Panasonic have aimed the new G9 squarely at photographers, and demanding ones at that.

The G9 shoots raw stills at up to an insane blackout-free 60 frames per second, and also offers an 80 megapixel “High Resolution” mode. 5-axis in body image stabilisation combines with lens stabilisation offering up to 6.5 stops of handshake removing goodness. It also boasts the world’s fastest autofocus speed.

When YI sent us their new M1 mirrorless camera last year, we had high hopes. On paper, the hardware and spec looked very impressive. Once we got it into our hands, though, we were a little disappointed. It felt a bit hit and miss. In fairness, for stills photography, it wasn’t really that bad, as long as you were shooting in bright conditions. Even there, though, it lacked a little something.

Where it mostly seemed to fall flat were in the video and timelapse departments. The biggest issue being that there was no manual exposure control for either of these modes. Well, thanks to a new 3.0 firmware released a few days ago, the majority of the problems faced by the YI M1 seem to have been cleared up.

Micro Four Thirds has been getting some love the last couple of days. First we have Sigma’s new 16mm f/1.4 announcement yesterday. Today Olympus are raising the bar with a pair of super fast f/1.2 Pro primes.

First up, the M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.2 PRO, that might attract a few higher end MFT shooters over Sigma’s 16mm. Firmly aimed at portrait shooters, the second lens is the M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.2 PRO.

With the advent of mirrorless, lens adapters have become very popular. With such a short flange distance, mirrorless cameras offer so many more lens options. You might not always get the full benefit of the lens, and some might kill your camera, but overall they’re extremely useful.

Fotodiox have just launched a new series of lens adapters for Sony, Micro Four Thirds and Fuji mirrorless cameras for a range of lenses. There are 8 different lens mounts available, and you can even lengthen the adapter. This means it essentially acts like an extension tube, offering you closer focusing with any lens.

Clinton Lofthouse is a Photographer, Retoucher and Digital Artist based in the United Kingdom, who specialises in creative retouching and composites. Proud 80's baby, reader of graphic novels and movie geek!
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